The Blauwe Theehuis ("Blue Tea House") is a 1930s

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

in the

Vondelpark The Vondelpark () is a public urban park of 47 hectares (120 acres) in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is part of the borough of Amsterdam-Zuid and situated west from the Leidseplein and the Museumplein. The park was opened in 1865 and originally nam ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, the capital city of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It is a ring-shaped building, somewhat reminiscent of a flying saucer. Originally a

tea house A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment whic ...

, it is in use as a café and restaurant, surrounded by outside seating. The Blauwe Theehuis is also used for theatre performances, festivals, weddings, and other events. The building has ''

rijksmonument A rijksmonument (, ) is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. At the end of February 2015, the Netherlands ...

'' (national monument) status. "Het Blauwe Theehuis, Amsterdam", KennisInfrastructuur CultuurHistorie (KICH), Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed
(Dutch) The building was constructed out of concrete, steel and glass. It consists of two circular floors stacked on top of each other, with a circular roof as the third "saucer". The octagonally shaped ground floor is topped by a 12-sided top floor which originally served as residence of the proprietor. A staircase on the outside of the building provides access to the top floor. The roof edges and balustrades and the 12 pillars supporting the top floor are painted blue. Blauwe Theehuis - Archipedia
(Dutch)
(Dutch)

History

The Blauwe Theehuis was built in 1937, after the previous tea house on that spot was set on fire and burned down in the summer of 1936. The brothers H.A.J. Baanders and

Jan Baanders Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...

designed the pavilion in the Modernist ''Nieuwe Bouwen'' or ''

Nieuwe Zakelijkheid Nieuwe Zakelijkheid, translated as New Objectivity or New Pragmatism, is a Dutch period of modernist architecture that started in the 1920s and continued into the 1930s. The term is also used to denote a (brief) period in art and literature (especi ...

'' style of architecture, a Dutch take on

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...

. On 3 May 1997, the then-owner of the Blauwe Theehuis, 55-year-old Piet Bosters, was found murdered in his residence on the top floor of the building. Apparently he had been the victim of a robbery, as 30,000 guilders had disappeared from the residence. However, there were no signs of forced entry, indicating that the perpetrator may have been an acquaintance of Bosters', or had somehow obtained a copy of the keys to the building. The case was never solved. After the new owners purchased the building in 1998, the top floor was added to the restaurant. In 2019 the building was taken over by

Brouwerij 't IJ Brouwerij 't IJ (; English: The IJ Brewery) is a small brewery in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is located in a former bath house named ''Funen'', next to the De Gooyer windmill. The brewery was opened by Kaspar Peterson, a former musician, in ...

References

External links

Website of the Blauwe Theehuis
{{Coord, 52, 21, 31.75, N, 4, 52, 21.3, E, region:NL_type:landmark, display=title Rijksmonuments in Amsterdam Modernist architecture in the Netherlands Pavilions Tea houses Amsterdam-Zuid Buildings and structures completed in 1937

History

See also

References

External links